Once Upon A Time In Shanghai: Li Yugang Sings Classic Love Songs 180g LP

Beginning in 1912 and lasting until 1949, the Republican Era still holds a fascination and even nostalgia for many. It was a turbulent time, fraught with many struggles and changes but from out of this crucible came new hopes and new dreams and a multitude of new dreamers – poets, patriots, artists, writers and musicians – whose dreams for the new Republic continue to fire the imagination.

The divine singing of Li Yugang brings to life once again the seductive sounds of that gilded age – the movies, the nightclubs; beautiful "Shanghai Flowers" in their form-hugging qipaos and dapper gents in top hats and tails wander through these songs and call the listener back to an energetic and elegant age; a time when everyone was dreaming fabulous dreams.

Listening to this album, wistfulness for that bygone age will fill your heart: "Meeting By Chance" and "Lotus Flower Blooms" weave their tales of bright beginnings; "Blooming Flowers and Full Moon" tells of the sweetness of love. In "Wandering the Old Dream" we experience lost love and faded youth, while the playful "Rose, Rose I Love You" praises the beloved's tenacity and perseverance; "This Love is not for Me", recounts the inexpressible sadness at the end of an affair, and "If Only We Met Before I Married" describes a love that can never be. The up-beat energy of "Don't Go So Fast" (a song inspired by "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe") combines girlish flirtation with a distinctive Chinese appreciation of the beauty of springtime, and "Man of My Dreams", with its Latin rhythms and seductive melody evokes love's longing. "Four Seasons Melody" and "Love You Forever" both originally made famous by Zhou Xuan in the '30s were later immortalized by Deng Lijun (Teresa Teng) decades later and continue to be popular to this day.